The Forming of Delaware County

"To start at a time now almost 350 years ago, the first white men to come to this section were probably those who sailed with Henry Hudson, English captain of a ship owned by the East India Company of the Chamber of Amsterdam in 1609. Early records show that they sailed off the Capes of the Delaware River on August 28 of that year.

A few years later two Dutch captains, one Cornelius Jacobson May and the other Cornelius Hendrickson, sailed up the Delaware River. Early records are hazy as to the exact dates, but it seemed quite certain that the Dutch were the first white settlers. Later came the Swedes.

The Indians, whom the early Dutch and Swedes found along the Delaware River, were the Lenni Lenape groups and the Iroquois. The former were probably the most peaceful of the Indians along the Atlantic seaboard.

When the early white settlers arrived they were paying tribute to the more war-like Iroquois. Essentially peaceful themselves, the Lenni Lenapes were naturally suspicious of the early settlers. As a consequence, they wiped out a small settlement made by the Dutch West Indian Company near the present town of Lewes, Del.

After Finns had joined Dutch and Swede settlers, the first seat of government in the present Delaware County area was established on Ti— Island under John —– ——, a former calvary officer in his native Finland. This was in 1643, the same year that the town of Upland, later to become Chester, was settled. With the establishment of Tininleum and Upland the area which is now Delaware County definitely enters the picture."

Read the February 23, 1951 column in its entirety.